*minor spoilers ahead*
The book’s premise is based around Kenna Rowan, who after serving 5 years in prison, returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her 4-year-old daughter. Expectedly, everyone in her daughter’s life shuts out Kenna despite her best efforts until she meets local bar owner, Ledger Ward, who appears to be the only one who hasn’t closed her off.
From the offset, Ledger and Kenna start becoming romantically entwined, risking the trust of everyone important to them, but Kenna hopes to absolve her past mistakes. Straight off the bat, Kenna is a very intense character with complex issues. We see this through her letters to Scotty (her boyfriend who passed away during the accident), and how raw these are. She’s not the most likeable character due to her actions in the past, but this made the story relatively interesting to read.
Maybe the best way to cope with the loss of the people we love is to find them in as many places and things as we possibly can.
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I always find Hoover books easy to read, which helps even when I’m not absolutely loving the story. I did find the pacing a bit slow halfway through, however, Hoover included dual perspectives in this book, which was refreshing to read. Unfortunately, I didn’t particularly connect with Kenna and found her and Ledger’s relationship unrealistic due to their connection with Scotty. This led me to not connect well with the story, as I wasn’t rooting for the main characters.
This book did put me in a bit of a reading slump, and I believe this was ultimately due to the plot not sitting right with me, despite it being quite predictable. However, a big theme of this book is forgiveness so maybe this shows I need to be more forgiving!
Overall, I’m glad I’ve read this story but it’s not my favourite book by Hoover; I prefer Verity or It Ends With Us. But, if you’re a fan of Hoover, it appears one of her popular books so it is worth giving it a go.
3/5 stars
Soph's Library 
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